1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to internal system administration utilizing a data processing system and in particular to an automated mapping system to find the location of electronic equipment located within a defined area. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for determining the physical location of electronic equipment in a defined area utilizing a server network comprising of a data processing system and a phone network or electromagnetic frequency (EMF) equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Personal data processing systems have attained widespread utilization for providing computing power to many segments of today""s modern society. Personal data processing systems include a desk top, floor standing, or portable microcomputer that consists of a system unit having at least one system processor and associated volatile and non-volatile memory, a display monitor, a keyboard,.one or more diskette drives, a fixed disk storage, and an optional printer. These systems are designed primarily to give independent computing power to a single user and are inexpensively priced for purchase by individuals or small businesses.
Typically, a business is located within a physical facility or structure and has many data processing systems distributed throughout various locations within the physical facilities. Keeping track of the physical location of each data processing system is difficult. The difficulty in maintaining an accurate record of each data processing system""s current physical location greatly increases as the number of data processing systems increases. Contributing to this problem is the likelihood that at least some of these computer systems will be moved from one location to another.
Significant costs are associated with asset tracking of data processing systems in a large business environment. Presently, this tracking is implemented manually with runners locating and inventorying each individual system. Not only is this method inefficient, but it is also extremely costly.
Often data processing systems are interlinked to form a network. These locally controlled networks known also as local area networks (LAN) typically consist of a server which acts as the administrator or brain of the network. The individual data processing units are linked to the server via a line connection such as an ethernet connection. The general setup of a LAN is well known in the art.
In networked data processing systems, each network server and interlinked data processing unit is associated with a unique address. This address is the Internet Protocol (IP) address. This address allows for communication between the data processing systems. The IP address of the data processing system is not associated with a physical location. Therefore, if the data processing system is moved to a new physical location, its IP address may remain the same, but the record of the physical location of the data processing system becomes inaccurate.
Universal unique identifiers (UUIDs) are well known in the PC industry. Each data processing system has a unique UUID which may be its serial number or other set of characters. Utilizing the UUIDs, each data processing system may be uniquely identified. As with the IP address, however, the UUID associated with a particular data processing system identifies the data processing system, but not its physical location. If a data processing system is moved, determining its physical location at a later date requires a manual search.
Thus, one of the main problems that is faced by system administrators today is determining the location of the various pieces of equipment that may or may not be network attached. This can be an expensive problem, with a large number of man hours utilized to inventory PC equipment.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a system and method for determining a physical location of a data processing system within a defined area in an efficient and inexpensive manner. It would also be desirable to have a system and method for finding the physical location of an electronic equipment based on known identifying information of the electronic equipment utilizing a simple system server and locally placed reception devices.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a method and system for an internal system administration utilizing a data processing system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and system for an automated mapping system to find the location of electronic equipment located within a defined area.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method and system for determining the physical location of electronic equipment in a defined area utilizing a server network comprising of a data processing system and a phone network or electromagnetic frequency (EMF) equipment.
The foregoing objects are achieved as is now described. A system for mapping a location of an electronic equipment in a defined area is disclosed. The system includes a server which is typically a data processing system. An activation signal is sent to the electronic equipment. In response to the activation signal, the electronic equipment emits a pre-defined signal containing a unique signature of the electronic equipment. The signal is captured by a device connected to the server with a known location in the defined area. The server utilizes the known location of the device along with the unique signature of the electronic equipment to determine the location of the electronic equipment.
In the preferred embodiment, the electronic device is a data processing system and it is connected to the server vixc3xa1 a LAN. Further, detection means include a phone system utilizing audio tones or an EMF receiver.
The above as well as additional objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.